13 February 2010

IT IS TIME TO TELL A LOVE STORY

I had a realisation last night. Something in my view of life has suddenly shifted. I have a new found clarity on why my life is the way it is and why I am who I am. I received a wonderful insight in to the power of stories and the stories we tell about our selves. I was so inspired I instantly pulled out my journal and began writing this post - a post on the power of love stories. Let me explain how this happened...

Last night, I went to the theatre here in Melbourne, and saw a play. It was a story of love, life and travel. It wasn't an overly profound play, but there was a magical moment in the story which triggered this wonderful realisation in me.

At one point a character reunites with friends in Greece that he has not seen in many years. He has changed from being a poor, uneducated refugee to a millionaire businessman. When the rest of the characters enquire as to what he did to change his life, he turns to face the crowd and in a loud determined voice he answers..."You are the story that you tell about yourself. You have to start telling a new story"When he spoke these words it was like a light turned on inside of me. These words resonated with some deep, inner knowing of the truth. I felt the actors words speak to me, and I heard the words echo in my head..."You have to start telling a new story"I suddenly realised that our life is really just a culmination of the stories that we tell. We tell stories about who we are and what is possible for us. We tell stories about people, places and events. When something happens we tell a story about it and give it meaning. We have the choice to interpret an event any way we want. All things are neutral until we start telling a story about what they mean.The inspirational author and motivational speaker, Anthony Robbins teaches that "things do not have meaning, we assign meaning to everything... it is never the environment; it's never the events of our lives, but the meaning we attach to the events - how we interpret them - that shapes who we are today and who we'll become tomorrow"
Let's say you get up one morning and head to work. When you arrive your boss sits you down and tells you that you are being made redundant. You have lost your job. How would you respond? What meaning would you assign to this event and what story would you tell? Would you tell a story of fear, or a story of love?Tell a love story
A wonderful woman by the name of Lilou Mace had just this happen to her. She got made redundant out of her management role in London during the global financial crisis. Rather than choosing to feel fearful and powerless, to tell a story that she would never find another job and to be scared about money, she decided to interpret this event differently. She saw it as a wonderful opportunity. For a long while she had been feeling unhappy in her job and had been secretly longing to pursue a career as an author, interviewer and teacher of the Law of Attraction. So, she decided to see this job loss as a blessing and an nudge from the universe for her to start persuing her dream career. She decided to track her progress of creating her dream job through a book called I Lost My Job and I Liked It. She later published that book and is now working as a writer and interviewer spreading the message of how we create our life through our thoughts.

She could have easily decided to tell a fearful and disempowering story about her job loss, but instead she told a story of love and passion and assigned a positive meaning to this event. As a result she created an amazing opportunity out of an event that most people would have seen as the end of the world.

Lilou told a love story. She believed that she was being supported and guided by the universe, that everything was happening for a reason and that she was being taken care of. She looked for the lesson and the blessing and that was what she found. She chose love over fear. As a result she now lives a life that is filled with everything she loves.What story are you telling yourself?
What stories are you telling about your life? Whatever they are, make sure that you like them because they will become true for you. If you want to change an aspect of your life, all you have to do is start telling your self a new story about who you are.

You have to stop telling the story of how it is and how it has been and instead tell the story of how you want it to be.Your stories are a self-fulfilling prophecy. The quality of your stories determines the quality of your life. Your life is a direct reflection of your stories. You are who you think you are.

Stop telling stories about not being able to have what you want, or about how you never have enough money, or about not being able to find the perfect mate, or about all the things you dislike at work, or about all the things you don't like about certain people, or about how crap the weather is, or about all the bad things in the world, or about how your family annoy you, or about how you can never seem to lose that extra weight....

Start telling loving and empowering stories. Tell stories about all the things you love in your life, tell stories about all the things you like about the people in your life, or about all the money you do have, or about all the things that are great about your job, or about all the awesome things that are coming to you in the future, or about all the things are beautiful and perfect about your body, or about all the talents and skills you do have or about all the gorgeous things you see around you in your world. Tell a story of opportunity, hope, blessings, love, support, abundance and success.

Replace your fear stories with love stories. How do you know you are telling a fear story? You know by how you feel! When you feel depressed, unmotivated, sad, powerless, angry or scared it is likely you are telling yourself a nasty, negative fear story. When you tell love stories you feel inspired, light, happy, empowered, motivated, passionate and like anything is possible. Choose love over fear.

It is time for us all to wake up. It is time for each of us to start taking responsibility for the stories we are telling in our own lives. The Universe is sending us wake up calls and we must listen. Each of us are being called to start telling new stories about our selves and our lives, and new stories about what is possible. We must replace our fearful stories with stories of connection, peace, generosity, love, abundance, and joy. Through telling new loving stories about our selves, we will create new lives filled with love and joy and we will create a more loving and connected world.

I loved this post. It made me think of the Hero's Journey, and then I saw the follow your bliss sign at the bottom of your page =)

I like how you you say "Your life is a direct reflection of your stories." I think most of us have a tendency to think our stories are a byproduct of our life - and often to think view our life through a narrow lens of past hurts and disappointments. It's so liberating to start to bring light to the stories you tell - especially the ones you only tell silently to yourself!

wow this blog is very very positive and i love it! i'm doing an experiment for lent: 40 days of positive thinking. i'm trying to turn my negative thoughts into positive ones and in turn, live a better happier healthier life.

you're right about my heart not fully being in the dental assistant program i'm about to start on monday. i fell into it. i am unhappy with job, today was my last day, and just wanted a job that i would enjoy and a job i could get in any city. i don't know what my passion is. i used to say design, but not any more... i enjoy reading, doing anything outdoors, music, walking my dog... but i can't find my passion, yet. i think that's ok. so for now i'm being practical.

Hey ConnieWOW, this post has to be my favorite now. I loved the syncranicity(excuse the spelling) of it all.

I actualy listend to a Tony Robins vid the other day and found it shed some great light on things I was doing.

The whole "tell a story" is something I have had to listen to alot in my life, however not very recently, and I realy do get that we define ourselves by what we say about ourselves, so if we want to be different we need to change our stories.

LinkWithin

HELLO + WELCOME

My name is Connie. I am a certified transformation coach and a passionate writer who has an addiction to green juice and an intense love of yoga. If you wish you get in touch, please email me at connie@conniechapman.com